Watch a video report of MSU researchers at work in Thailand and Laos.
Two of the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide and methane – are carbon-based. Released from various natural and industrial sources, greenhouse gases absorb heat and help maintain the atmosphere's climate. Without greenhouse gases, the planet would be a large ice cube. But if greenhouse gas concentrations become too high, research has shown the gases can cause a dramatic increase in temperature. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to make energy. When leaves, stems and other plant materials fall to the ground, the carbon in them is either converted to carbon dioxide by microbes or becomes part of the soil. Keeping carbon in the soil is known as carbon sequestration, and certain agricultural production techniques and crops can increase the amount of carbon in the soil by slowing down decomposition.
The Kyoto Protocol, created by the United Nations 1997 Conference on Climate Change, created target carbon dioxide emission levels for each of the participating developed countries, relative to 1990 levels. The target for the United States was 7 percent below 1990 levels. The Kyoto Protocol became binding in 2005, and sequestered carbon became a globally traded commodity. Countries/businesses with high emissions can buy emissions credits from someone who is able to store more carbon than he or she emits.
"The Chicago Climate Exchange now has more than 6 million trades per month," said MSU forestry researcher David Skole, leader of the Carbon2Markets program. "A report prepared for the World Bank discussed a rapid increase in corporate participation in the carbon market. One opportunity for leveraging this growing market is to help poor farmers in developing countries plant trees or sow crops and other plants as part of restoration projects. That's our goal with Carbon2Markets."
The trees and other crops the farmers plant sequester carbon, the credits for which can then be sold on the carbon market. The money the farmers earn from carbon credits fosters other economic development in local communities and increases the farmers' incomes, while conserving natural resources and slowing climate change.
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